Author: Kurt Philip Behm

I am a lifelong author with 21 books published to date—one best seller. Much of my writing is about the deception of time and its many disguises. My Poetry 'An Anthology Of Perception,' is now available in four volumes. In addition I have a 175 page Poem 'After Midnight,' that was published in 2014. My Historical Fiction series, 'The Sword Of Ichiban' is now up to volume 8 which is being published this Spring ... Vol #1- The Sword Of Ichiban Vol #2- Darkening Sun Vol #3- Revenge Along The War Trail Vol #4- Death From The Sky Vol #5- Jumping Into the Darkness Vol #6- The Fall City Mandate. Vol #7- Approaching Storm Vol #8- Brothers In Blood One autobiographical novel, 'The Death Of The Playground' a Best Seller, published in 2007. One travel novel, 'Searching For Crazy Horse,' published in 2005, recapping my forty years of motorcycle touring in the American Rocky Mountain West. I have written one Children's Book, 'Sammy & Bumpers' that was published in 2016. All of my books are available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and better Book Stores world wide. Kurt Philip Behm

Some Things Don’t Need Explaining…

Like the mist of an early morning rain

and the love of an older dog

Like the spontaneous hug from a passing child

and coffee from a mountain fire

Like a call from an old retired friend

and the memory of one who left

Like those boots now broken in at last

and a map whose roads have changed

Like the smell and taste of a memory lost

and not the mileage but the miles

Like a rainbow reaching out at dawn

and the distant whistle of a train

Like a promise made for its own sake

and a marriage not on loan

Like a burden once it’s lifted free

and the present not the past

Like a thing put off, put off again

and the reasoning unknown

Like an hour spent inside a dream

and a wish that’s more than hope

Like your name when called to stand your ground

and the courage that’s required

Like a song you’ve heard a thousand times

and whose words still feel the same

Like a river rushing toward the sea

and a boy who knows its mind

Like a favored son to share your name

and the bond to keep it so

Like a reason that you can’t disclose

and the one who never asks

Like that girl who keeps your faith alive

—and your heart forever free

 

(The New Room: April, 2021)

Copyright 2021 Kurt Philip Behm

Hidden Treasure

The deepest truth lay undiscovered

in the buried words

Like unfound gold existing only

on a pirate’s map

True value in the search required

to seek and grasp

 

Each phrase a burrowing pen

digs into the readers mine

 Fortune concealing veins of discovery

covered and unknown

Ink running free as the shaft leads inward

—anticipation karat pure

 

(Watching “Hemingway #2: April, 2021)

 

Ignoble Life

We live in the shadows of your cursed survival

 not being killed when so many of you were

the endless rows of benighted headstones

telling of memories never to be

where you wander among them

pledging your heart to what unrequited

condemns you to time

we walk together through years of separation

the voices of the dead confirming

the tryst of our silence

 forever pretending that a lyric

can be written after the music stops

that its words can be sung by the Angel guardians

of those long departed

and ignoring my devotion

you embrace the rejection of  

the one who never loved you back…

the paramour who condemns you to live in misery

and to live with me

—jilted by death

 

(Watching ‘Hemingway’ On PBS: April, 2021)